Mubarak returns to court in Cairo

Lawyers for Hosni Mubarak are set to being their defense of the former Egyptian president against charges of corruption and unlawfully killing protesters during the 18-day uprising that ended his decades-long rule almost one year ago Mubarak returned to a Cairo courtroom on Tuesday for the resumption of a trial in which his two sons and eight of his former officials are also accused.

The prosecutor has called for Mubarak to face the death penalty if convicted. Both he and the other 10 defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

Chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said at a previous hearing that the ailing 83-year-old must have ordered police to open fire on protesters.

Mubarak "must have agreed on the killings," Suleiman told the court on January 5. Mubarak's sons, Jamal and Alaa, also face corruption charges, while Habib al-Adly, a former interior minister and head of security services, is charged with murder and attempted murder.

Six security officials face the same charges.

Hussein Salem, a business associate of Mubarak, is charged with corruption. State television showed the ailing Mubarak lying on a stretcher being wheeled into the Police Academy in northern Cairo for Tuesday's session.